Introduction to Part III

Abstract

Another valid view on modularity is ontologies that differs from the one taken in part II of the book is the idea that modules are not created by splitting up a large ontology into smaller parts but by composing a number of small ontologies that have been created independently of each other into a larger model. In this scenario that was investigated in more detail in chapter 4 the original ontologies become modules in a large modular ontology. The advantage of this scenario is not easier maintenance and analysis of the overall system - in fact integrating different ontologies normally makes both more complicated compared to the individual models. The rationale for this approach is the benefit of being able to reuse knowledge that has been created by other people as well as the Data that might be associated with the ontologies to be integrated. This scenario is much closer to the original vision of the semantic web, where information sources describe their information using ontologies and information is found and reused by linking it on the level of ontologies thus creating a system of interlinked ontologies in which information can be interpreted in a uniform way.